Monthly Archives: May 2014

When a team has a rich history, it is always nice to see players from prior eras bonded with modern ones. And while their respective games may be different, the names on their jerseys keep them bonded.

This card is from the 2010 Topps ‘Legendary Lineage’ set and it features Honus Wagner and Andrew McCutchen. As ‘Cutch’ continues to bolster and craft his game, he will continue to draw lines to former heroes of the sport, and in time, those lines will be parallel – he is a fantastically skilled player and one of the best ‘5-Tool Guys’ in the game right now.

Have a look at the card:

Someday it will be McCutchen on the left with some young ‘Buc’ on the right… Mark my words.

Notes From His 1975 Season: Mike Phillips played in 125 games for both the Giants and Mets in 1975. Splitting time between the two teams, Phillips connected for 104 hits in those 125 contests en route to a .251 batting average. His 104 hits was a career high.

Notes From Career: Phillips spent 11 years in the major leagues, playing for 5 different clubs. He was a decent defender, having split his time between second base, shortstop, and third base pretty evenly. Phillips was a career .240 hitter with 412 hits to his credit. Among the 412 hits was 46 doubles, 26 triples, and 11 home runs.

Notes From His 1975 Season: The 1975 baseball season was Frank Tepedino’s final one in the major leagues. He played in just 8 games for the Braves amassing 8 plate appearances. He reached base just one time – on a walk.

Notes From Career: Tepedino played for three different major league clubs during his playing days. He has a career batting average of .241 with 122 hits. He connected for 13 doubles and 6 home runs during his playing days while also scoring 50 runs and driving in 58. Tepedino has a career fielding percentage of .988.

One of the most underrated players from his era, Kenny Lofton was a throwback-type of player that oftentimes reminded you of the players from the generation prior to his. With lightening fast speed and great defensive skills, Lofton enjoyed a wonderful 17-season career.

Lofton was the kind of player that every team needs on their roster. A guy that can do it all, and will make the same level of effort when playing for a first place team with a 10-game divisional lead as he would for a last place team 20 games behind in the standings. Lofton’s desire to win and help his team was unmeasurable. And along the way, he racked up some very impressive career statistics.

A lifetime .299 hitter, Kenny Lofton finished his career with 2,428 hits. He also captured 781 RBI, 1,528 runs scored, and an amazing on-base percentage of .372. He currently ranks 15th all-time with 622 stolen bases. When it comes to recognition around the league, Lofton tallied 6 All-star appearances and 4 Gold Glove awards.

In total, Kenny Lofton played for 11 different teams over the course of his career. Of his 17 seasons, 10 were with the Cleveland Indians. For his birthday I would like to give Lofton a little more appreciation. Let’s give him a career with just 1 team and make him an everyday player. Had that occurred, I think we could be looking at another member of the 3,000 hits club and possibly just the second guy to break the 1,000 steals mark.

It’s not often in today’s collecting climate that you get to find a team set that features more cards that a single album page can hold.

Thankfully, the 1990’s produced a lot of team sets that contain more than 18 cards.

And this is one of them – the 1998 Upper Deck Collector’s Choice team set of the Florida Marlins.

Let me apologize now for the very random scan sizes…

Scan size set aside, this set features a glorious amount of Teal, Black, and White – and that makes this Marlins fan extremely happy.

Upper Deck has always offered us some great photography over the years, and while I could do without the posed portrait-style image of Livan Hernandez that is in this set, I will let it pass because I really like the action images for the rest of the guys.

Notes From His 1975 Season: Mike Wallace played for both the Yankees and Cardinals during the 1975 baseball season. He appeared in 12 total games and worked just 13 innings. He did not factor into the decision in any of his appearances.

Notes From Career: Mike Wallace played for four different baseball teams during his 5-year career. In 117 games played, Wallace posted a 11-3 record with 3 saves. He has a career ERA of 3.91 after having allowed 90 runs in 181 innings. In that time, Wallace struck out 105 batters while walking 107.